US President Joe Biden has said he is not confident there will be a peaceful transition of power if Donald Trump loses the presidential election in November.
In his first interview since he dramatically dropped out of the race last month, Mr Biden told CBS News: “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all.”
“[Trump] means what he says, we don’t take him seriously. He means it, all this stuff about ‘if we lose it will be a bloodbath’.”
Mr Trump’s comment that it would “be a bloodbath for the country” if he loses the election, made as he was talking about the auto industry in March, triggered a wave of criticism.
Democrats were quick to reiterate their campaign message that the former president poses a threat to democracy. The Biden campaign used the “bloodbath” comment in an ad – posted on its social media accounts – and a spokesman accused Mr Trump of “encouraging and excusing political violence”.
The Trump campaign, however, said the comment was specifically about the auto industry and had been deliberately taken out of context. It sent a fundraising email which said Trump’s political opponents and others had been “viciously” misquoting him.
“[They] fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry,” Trump wrote on social media at the time.
Mr Biden has previously expressed concern that his former rival would not accept the result of the election.
During the presidential debate on CNN in June – which triggered the crisis over Mr Biden’s candidacy that ultimately saw stand aside and endorse Kamala Harris – Trump was asked directly whether he would accept the 2024 election results.
“If it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely,” he responded, after initially avoiding the question.
Trump made repeated unfounded claims of election fraud in 2020 after he lost that election to Mr Biden.
His supporters stormed the Capitol building in January 2021 in an effort to stop the election result from being certified. Many in attendance that day repeated the former president’s claims that the vote had been rigged.
In the CBS interview clip released on Wednesday, which was posted on X, Mr Biden also appeared to suggest there were efforts to complicate the post-election certification processes, although it was unclear exactly what he was referring to.
“Look what they’re trying to do now, in the local election districts where people count the votes,” he said. “You can’t love your country only when you win.”
